What is Customer Information? Explains why it should be managed, what items it should contain, and how to manage it!

What is customer information?

Customer information refers to information about a customer. All information is considered customer information, including not only basic items such as the customer's name and contact information, but also internal company information obtained through business negotiations and inquiry history.  

Why do you need to manage customer information?

Market is changing rapidly and goods are not selling well.

DURING THE HIGH-GROWTH PERIOD, WHEN THERE WAS STILL A SHORTAGE OF GOODS AND SERVICES, PRODUCTS WOULD SELL ON THEIR OWN AS LONG AS THEY WERE ADVERTISED THROUGH TV COMMERCIALS AND FLYERS AS "HIGH-FUNCTION, LOW-PRICED PRODUCTS. HOWEVER, TODAY, WITH NUMEROUS COMPETITORS AND AN ABUNDANCE OF GOODS AND SERVICES, IT IS MUCH MORE DIFFICULT THAN BEFORE TO SIMPLY GAIN RECOGNITION AND SELL, NO MATTER HOW HIGH THE FUNCTIONALITY OR LOW THE PRICE. THEREFORE, COMPANIES ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO RESPOND FLEXIBLY TO CHANGES BY SENSING CHANGES IN THE MARKET AND CUSTOMER NEEDS, STARTING FROM CUSTOMER INFORMATION.  

Diversification of customer needs

IN RECENT YEARS, THE INTERNET HAS MADE IT POSSIBLE TO OBTAIN DETAILED INFORMATION ON PRODUCTS AND SERVICES NOT ONLY FROM REAL STORES BUT ALSO FROM MAIL-ORDER WEBSITES AND COMPARISON SITES. AS A RESULT, IT HAS BECOME EASIER TO COMPARE OUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES WITH THOSE OF OTHER COMPANIES, MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT FOR OUR OWN PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO BE SELECTED. WHILE UTILIZING CUSTOMER INFORMATION, IT IS NECESSARY TO DISCOVER USERS' LATENT ISSUES AND NEEDS, AND TO PROMOTE AND APPROACH CUSTOMERS WITH PINPOINT ACCURACY.

problem of creating a large number of dependents (e.g. of a labor union, labour union)

By not managing customer information, it is easy for problems of impersonalization to occur within the organization. For example, if the customer information obtained by a sales representative through his/her work and the circumstances that led to the achievement of results are not shared within the company, it will be difficult for the team as a whole to achieve stable results over a long period of time. In addition, when a sales representative has to take over a job due to parental leave or a job change, the lack of accumulated customer information reduces the efficiency of the handover process. In order to prevent problems caused by this type of demotivation, it is important for companies to manage customer information.
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Items required as customer information

Corporate Information

The basis of customer information is company information.

-Company name
-Address
-Telephone number
-Email address
-Industry
-Number of employees
-Years established
-Website URL
-SNS account
-Department name of contact person
-Position name of contact person

In addition to basic information such as company name and address, the company information section should also include information that is important for business negotiations, such as business description and sales size.

personal information

BtoB]
・Name of contact person
・Phone number
・E-mail address
・Name of department
・Title
【BtoC】
・Age
・Family structure
・Hobbies
・Client rank
・Date of birth

In BtoB, information such as the department and position of the person in charge is important. In particular, if it is known who has the settlement authority, it is easier to make the necessary preparations, and business negotiations can proceed more smoothly.
In BtoC, if you can manage items such as preferences, hobbies, and customer rank in addition to basic customer information, you will be able to respond with appropriate content and timing to increase sales.

Communication history information

Information on customer communication history is essential to the use of customer information.

-Date of newsletter distribution, open rate, and URL click rate
-Details and dates of email communication
-Details and dates of telephone communication
-Details and dates of SNS communication  

By accumulating communication information as customer information, it becomes possible to respond appropriately to potential customer needs and issues. As such, it is a valuable source of information that can be used to close business negotiations, products and services.

Business meeting history information

In BtoB, the management of business meeting history is very important. For example, the following information needs to be managed

Date and time of the meeting
・Person in charge of the meeting (sales representative)
・Partners attending the meeting
・Content of the meeting
・Content of correspondence until the next meeting
・Certainty of expected orders
・Projected sales amount

By accumulating the details of business negotiations as customer information, points for improvement and winning patterns in business negotiations can be visualized, which will bring you much closer to increased sales.

Purchase history (contract history) information

Information after the company's products or services have been purchased or contracted is also valuable customer information.

Date of purchase
・Name of purchased item
・Unit price
・Quantity
・Purchase route
・Number of purchases
・Contract date
・Contract renewal date

FOR COMPANIES THAT SELL PRODUCTS ON THE WEB, UNDERSTANDING WHICH CHANNELS LEAD TO PURCHASES CAN LEAD TO THE DEVISING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC MARKETING MEASURES. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU SEND COUPONS OR RECOMMENDATIONS OF RELATED PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO USERS WHO HAVE MADE FREQUENT PURCHASES ON YOUR SITE, YOU MAY BE ABLE TO FURTHER INCREASE YOUR SALES.

Key points for managing customer information

Enable centralized management

The most important point in managing customer information is whether or not it can be managed centrally. If business cards are managed in multiple places, such as in a business card management tool and customer information in Excel, not only will management become complicated, but the accuracy of customer analysis using the accumulated data will also be compromised. Therefore, it is preferable to use a single tool to centrally manage customer information.

Set input rules.

When managing customer information, set rules for data entry. For example, it is recommended to set a minimum number of items to be entered. If different inputters enter different items, it will be difficult to utilize the data, and the benefits of customer information management will not be seen.

Implement customer management tools

When managing customer information, it is recommended to implement a tool specialized for customer management. By introducing a customer management tool, centralized management of customer information becomes easier. Also, the ability to centrally manage customer information makes it easier for each person in charge to respond appropriately to individual customer data managed in a vertical manner and to analyze customer data.
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Benefits of centralized customer information management

As mentioned above, it is important to "centralize" the management of customer information.
Once you are able to manage customer information, you will enjoy the following benefits

Facilitates information sharing

One of the greatest advantages of centralized customer information management is that it facilitates information sharing. When customer information is managed in multiple tools, managing customer information becomes complicated. However, when customer information is centralized and easily shared, each customer information can be visualized. This will lead to the elimination of the need for human resources in business operations.

Increased customer satisfaction

By centrally managing customer information, sales activities and support can be tailored to the customer's situation. This will make it easier to improve customer satisfaction.

Increased sales

BY CENTRALIZING CUSTOMER INFORMATION, IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO DISCOVER CUSTOMER PURCHASING PATTERNS, WINNING PATTERNS IN BUSINESS NEGOTIATIONS, AND OTHER INSIGHTS THAT WILL LEAD TO INCREASED SALES. IN ADDITION, BY UTILIZING CUSTOMER INFORMATION NOT ONLY IN THE SALES DEPARTMENT BUT ALSO IN THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT, MARKETING INITIATIVES WITH HIGH ROI CAN BE IMPLEMENTED.

Tools to manage customer information

CRM

CRM stands for "Customer Relationship Management" and is also called a customer relationship management system. It is a business system that centrally manages customer information on the cloud and promotes the establishment of strong relationships with customers, enabling detailed and personalized approaches to each potential customer via e-mail, telephone, SNS, etc., based on the information stored in CRM and the functions provided, thereby promoting good customer relationships. This promotes good customer relationships. It is also an effective tool for nurturing more loyal customers, such as repeaters and fans.
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SFA

SFA is an abbreviation for Sales Force Automation, which means "sales automation" or "a tool to support sales activities. It is also sometimes referred to as a sales support system. SFA provides a mechanism to control and efficiently execute individual and organization-wide sales activities, and enables various sales-related information, such as customer management, case management, and forecast management, to be log・stored and shared throughout the organization. By centralizing data, more effective sales activities can be conducted.
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WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRM AND SFA?

CRM and SFA are both customer information management systems. However, they are targeted at different audiences: CRM provides management-related functions such as customer management, customer support, sales management, and sales forecasting analysis. Therefore, the use of CRM is not limited to sales, but extends to inside sales, customer success (customer service), and marketing departments. SFA, on the other hand, focuses on supporting sales activities, with functions such as sales progress management, case management of negotiations, forecast management, and quotation generation.
Related article>> What is the difference between CRM and SFA? A thorough explanation of the differences in functions and roles, and how to choose the right one!

Microsoft Excel  

It is also possible to manage customer information using Excel, which is often used on a daily basis. However, since Excel is not a tool specialized for customer information management, its use for customer management is not recommended. In some cases, updating and extracting data can be slow, and data stored locally can only be viewed in that one file, so it is not recommended for managing customer information, which is only powerful when it is shared among related parties.
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Business card management tools

A business card management tool is a tool for managing customer business card information. By implementing a business card management tool, you can centrally manage the business cards that your employees acquire on a daily basis in the cloud. Business cards are one of the most important customer information resources because they contain loga variety of information about a company. Some sales tools are equipped with a business card management function that allows business card information to be scanned and automatically registered with customer information using a smartphone camera.
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UPWARD" IS RECOMMENDED FOR MANAGING CUSTOMER INFORMATION

WE PROVIDE AND DEVELOP "UPWARD," A SALES DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONTOOL THAT SUPPORTS MAXIMIZING THE VALUE OF CRM AND SFA FOR OUTSIDE AND IN-HOME SALES. BY USING "UPWARD," CUSTOMER DATA SUCH AS CUSTOMER PROFILE INFORMATION, BUSINESS MEETING HISTORY, AND ACTIVITY REPORTS CAN BE EASILY ENTERED, MANAGED, AND UTILIZED SEMI-AUTOMATICALLY WITH A SINGLE SMARTPHONE. WHEN THE PERSON IN CHARGE IN THE FIELD CREATES A DAILY SALES REPORT OR ACTIVITY REPORT, NOT ONLY IS THE REPORT FORMAT AUTOMATICALLY CREATED ON "UPWARD" APP, BUT ALSO VOICE INPUT AND BUSINESS CARD READING FUNCTIONS ENABLE EASY SALES REPORTING IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME.

The data entered daily is visualized on a map, allowing users to intuitively know which customers to visit next. Anyone can make strategic visits to the places they really "need to go," not just the places that are "easy to get to. Click here to download the service introduction document of "UPWARD," a mobile CRM for outside sales and door-to-door sales

EXAMPLES OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION USING "UPWARD

Daihatsu Motor Co.

Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. introduced "UPWARD" to improve the sales force of new salespeople who propose their company's nursing care vehicles. However, with the introduction of "UPWARD," the company was able to visualize the market and realize a highly reproducible sales organization. In addition, the ability to share information on sales destinations with team members in real time has led to increased motivation for the entire team. Furthermore, by sharing the know-how of activities with team members, individual sales capabilities have been improved, and sales performance has increased 5.5 times in just one year after the introduction of UPWARD.
(UPWARD Case Study: Daihatsu Motor Co.)  

Asahi Field Marketing Corporation Success Stories

UPWARD" is also being used in the rounder department, which is responsible for displaying the company's products and creating sales floors at supermarkets and other stores.
Prior to the introduction of UPWARD, the company faced two issues: "smooth coordination between headquarters and rounders" and "efficient visitation. After introducing "UPWARD," it became possible to create efficient visitation routes. In addition, instructions from headquarters can now be color-coded and noted on a map, enabling timely and clear instructions to be issued. As a result, it is now possible to create attractive sales floors in line with the advice of the head office. In addition, the sales force has been strengthened by the fact that the head office is able to grasp the status of each store via UPWARD and smoothly give instructions to staff and answer questions.
(UPWARD Case Study: Asahi Field Marketing, Ltd.)

summary

The use of customer information is essential to increasing a company's sales. When utilizing customer information, we recommend the introduction of tools specialized for customer information management. The introduction of such a tool will promote efficiency in various operations, such as analysis and handover of responsibilities in the sales and marketing departments.
We have developed and provide "UPWARD," a mobile CRM/SFA tool for door-to-door sales and outside sales, so please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about CRM/SFA.
Click here to contact us.